No God Flow: Is The Black Church Driving More African Americans To Atheism?

You wake up on Sunday morning and decide to attend that church your mother has been begging you to visit since you struck out on your own.

You went of your way not to get drunk on Saturday night so you wouldn’t stumble into church with a hangover and your football game is programmed on your DVR.

For years you’ve heard that the choir is great, the preacher is awesome and the women are fine congregation is welcoming.

You meant to get there early to beat the long lines in the parking lot and find a decent seat. You get there 20 minutes late, but you get the parking space and that seat in the pew.

How? Probably because there is not as much competition in the pews anymore.

The Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism, a study released in August of this year, found that the number of Americans who say they are religious dropped from 73 percent in 2005 to 60 percent in 2012. A 2011 poll conducted by The Barna Group revealed similar findings. Barna Group looked at church attendance from 1991 to 2011 and found that it dropped from 48 percent to 39 percent. A GIRA poll found that Americans who identify as atheist rose from 1 percent to 5 percent.